A Tuesday Treat to Share with a Friend

Royaltea at the V&A Food Market is offering a second one of their special teas at half the price

“[Our teas] warm you when you’re cold, chill you when you’re hot and cheer you when you’re feeling a little down.” That’s why Yixin Zhou brought Royaltea – the speciality Asian tea bar that’s revolutionised tea-drinking culture in China and the world – to Cape Town.

They have three stores, and their V&A Food Market store has a Tuesday special, where if you buy one drink, you get a second (different) at half the price.

And the drink to try? Their signature cheese tea, a cold drink consisting of an oolong tea base that’s topped with cream cheese foam and sprinkled with matcha (an antioxidant-rich green powder). It’s like drinking a slice of cheesecake, and drinking it at a 45-degree angle, from the cup without a straw, is an important part of enjoying it as it balances the flavours and textures.

SO MANY TEAS TO CHOOSE FROMBring friends (maybe before or after a yoga session or scenic stroll at Battery Park) for the Tuesday tea treat. There’s a range of flavours, served hot or cold: Teas with real fruit chunks and floral jams such as rose jam mixed in; teas topped with Oreo crumbs, and bubble tea, a typically cold, sweet milky tea that’s shaken (hence bubble), and served with chewy tapioca pearls.

Royaltea, with over 600 outlets in the US, Canada and Asia, is changing tea-drinking culture globally. “I felt excited about the new direction that tea was taking in China and wanted to help spread it across the world ... Asian tea drinks with more of the special flavours I grew up with” smiles Zhou.

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